A Tribe Called Quest Never Got Paid For “Can I Kick It?”, Says Phife Dawg

This is one of those stories that I probably wouldn’t have believed unless I heard it straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. In this case, the horse is A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg, who claims that his group has never received a penny from the sales of “Can I Kick It?”. During a recent performance in London, Phife told the audience that Lou Reed — whose “Walk on the Wild Side” is heavily sampled on the track — collected all of the royalties for the single off People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

The following is a quote from the rapper on the situation:

“Because we didn’t see no money from that fuckin’ record yet. Really. Here’s what happened – and I take back saying ‘Fuck Lou Reed,’ because Lou Reed has every right to say ‘Give me my motherfucking money,’” Phife said to the crowd. “So Lou Reed could have easily said, ‘Oh yeah, a rap group use my shit? Alright.’ … So Lou Reed, instead of saying no altogether, he was like, ‘Yeah, nice! Give me the motherfucking money.’”

HA. Wow. Anyway, you can watch the performance video from London below. It features a tribute to the late Heavy D and a note from Phife that he hopes Tribe will record a reunion album. Same here. [THHC]